Regulation No 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and Council is about to take effect. The implications for airports,
airlines and handlers throughout the EU Member States will be far-reaching and all parties should be clear about their
obligations when the Regulation bites. Jo Murray reports.
The rights of disabled people and those with reduced mobility when travelling by air in Europe are now enshrined in
Regulation No 1107/2006 of the European Parliament and Council. The Regulation establishes rules for the protection of
and the provision of assistance to disabled people and people with reduced mobility when using air transport.
For the purposes of this Regulation, definitions are provided, illustrating just how far-reaching this European law is.
Article 2 of the Regulation states:
‘disabled person’ or ‘person with reduced mobility’ means any person whose mobility when using transport is reduced due
to any physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any
other cause of disability, or age, and whose situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to his or her
particular needs of the service made available to all passengers.
The net is being cast very widely and airports, airlines and handlers (often those in the front line in these
circumstances) will have to reconsider both their existing practices and investment in handling equipment.
The Regulation comes into effect from 26 July 2008, except for Articles 3 and 4 which are effective a year earlier.
These two Articles pertain to an airline refusing to carry a person on the grounds of disability or reduced mobility.
In effect, an airline, its agent or a tour operator cannot refuse to accept a reservation for a disabled person or a
person with reduced mobility and cannot, similarly, refuse to embark such a person. There are exceptions to this rule
on the grounds of safety, or the size of the aircraft or its doors, but there is still an obligation on the airline to
reimburse the fare or reroute the passenger.
What does the Regulation do?
Under the Regulation, there are a number of new requirements on airports, airlines, their agents and their staff.
Under Article 5, the airport must designate points of arrival and departure at which disabled people or those with
reduced mobility can request assistance. Article 6 requires air carriers, their agents and tour operators to take
all measures necessary to pass on information about the need for assistance.
When a disabled person or a person with reduced mobility arrives at an airport, the onus is on the airport to provide
assistance under Article 7, provided that the airline, its agent or the tour operator knew of this requirement at least
48 hours in advance (this provision also covers the return leg). Further, Article 8 provides that the airport must
provide this assistance without additional charge to the disabled person or those with reduced mobility. Quality
standards for this assistance must be set by the airport’s managing body (Article 9).
The assistance required by airlines under the Regulation must also be free of charge to the disabled person or those
with reduced mobility (Article 10) and both airlines and airports must ensure that proper training is in place
(Article 11). There is provision for the award of compensation to passengers for lost or damaged wheelchairs and
similar equipment (Article 12). Furthermore, disabled people or those with reduced mobility should bring complaints
of infringement of the Regulation to the airport or the airline and then, if necessary, to a body designated by the
Member State to deal with the complaint (Articles 14 and 15). Penalties for infringement will be set by each Member
State (Article 16).
A warning to the industry
Peter Wingrave is the Marketing Manager at AAT (GB) which manufactures moveable stair-climbing systems to help embark
and disembark disabled people or those with reduced mobility. He warns that passenger numbers are expected to rise
dramatically in the near future with a much higher proportion of reduced mobility traffic and estimates that some
10% of the population of the Member States suffer from disability or reduced mobility. He also comments that the
Regulation will bite at a time when turn around time on the ramp will be even more critical as the competition between
low-cost airlines and legacy carriers heats up and airlines work hard to protect their bottom lines.
When we started talking to the aviation industry, their main concern was health and safety in terms of their staff as
more and more aircraft were landing off pod, he says. He adds that handling disabled people and those with reduced
mobility is no longer centred just on airlines and the protection of their staff but is now focused on the way in
which airports are managed and the way in which the day to day handling of passengers is carried out, be it by the
airport, the airline or the groundhandling team.
It is not as if the airports have to suddenly absorb a new mass of information. They will just have to engage with more
people, comments Wingrave. However, he adds: Under this legislation, a party does not absolve itself of responsibility
if they employ another party as an agent.
Also worthy of note is that the expectations of the airline, airport and handling industries by passengers will rise
as a direct response to the promulgation of the Regulation; even borderline cases will expect assistance because the
responsibilities associated with this area of activity have now been enshrined in European law. There is now an
expectation that the air travel experience for a disabled person or someone with reduced mobility should mimic that
for an able bodied person. This implies dignity and comfort an emotional requirement that is difficult to judge in
practice.
While the Regulation is clear in its demands on the air transport industry, these issues always come back to one
question: who will pay? Since there is an obligation on airports under the Regulation, the cost to them will
probably ultimately be borne by the airlines in their landing fees. However, airlines also have an obligation to
perform under the Regulation and they may well prefer to provide their own support and equipment at a cost they are
better able to control and that will probably be reflected in ticket prices for all passengers. As for handlers, as
the agents of the airline, the financial knock-on effect for them is, as yet, unclear; even though their obligation
to perform under the Regulation is relatively transparent.
In the meantime, companies like AAT have been developing devices that have been engineered to meet the purpose of
embarking and disembarking disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility in dignity and comfort. The AAT
product is the S-Max Amazon powered stair climber which is now in standard service in almost all major UK airports
and many regional ones. It is designed to accommodate virtually any aircraft, especially the smaller types including
Saab340/2000, ATP, Avro RJ, ATR, Dash 8, Fokker 50/100, Boeing and Airbus types, and Dornier 328. It will even fit a
Twin Otter.
The AAT product,which is available from its representation across Europe and beyond, is capable of delivering the
passenger from the airport lounge to his or her seat on the aircraft while protecting staff from heavy lifting.
It also does so at speed to help those all important turntimes with which the aviation industry is rightly obsessed.
Wingrave’s caution to the industry is thatwhile products like those availablefrom AAT are already in service in the
industry and at a cost of only around £6000 per unit including training, the regulators may assume that there is no
excuse for the aviation industry to fail to observe its obligations under the legislation, be it PRM or health and
safety.
